Love At First Sight? Well, Anything's Possible
by Aikat3rin3
Summary: If Id known Itachi would use my sexuality as blackmail, I would've kept that confidential, but no, so I'm following him into a gay bar, blackmail hanging over my head. Wow, blond hair, blue eyes, he's cute. I'll have to come back without Itachi to see him
1. Chapter 1

I don't own anything but my ideas. This is my first time doing a first person POV story, let me know how I do!

WARNINGS: much swearing and obvious lime suggestions, you have been warned!

How It All Started

I was going to kill Itachi. A **gay bar**? For Christ's sake, he might as well have already delivered me to the morgue, because if father finds out… well, lets just say that loosing my life would be preferential, and then my manhood next, because that doesn't scare me half as bad as what else he'll do.

If I'd known the bastard that's supposed to be my brother was going to use my sexuality as black mail, I would have kept that information strictly confidential. 'For my own good' he says. 'I don't want to see you hurt' he says. Then why the hell is he blackmailing me to tell father if I don't go with him?

Itachi, my older brother, now a legal adult, has severed all ties with my parents as if they were dead, but that's not surprising. He walked in the door one day, all high and mighty and shit, and spits out that he's gay like he's announcing that he wants sushi for dinner that night, like it's something you hear every day in the Uchiha complex. And then he turns and leaves, smiling at my father spewing colorful phrases like a fountain and my mother's face, which is impressive in my opinion, as she was doing a fine impression of a fish out of water at the news.

But that was a good three years ago; now—for reasons I still don't quite understand—he's dragging me along like a show-and-tell item to a **gay bar**. He asked me to move in with him a year ago, telling me some crap like he didn't want father worrying that I was gay like him and engaging me to get married to a girl that was straight as a flag pole—and dumb as one too—the second I was of age, and like an **idiot**, I happened to mention that I **was** gay, just like him.

Bad move. Really, **really** bad move. My life was suddenly like a plane going into a spiraling nosedive from there on out.

And so I follow along behind him down black streets of the city like a sniveling three year old, glancing around me to make sure that no rapers are going to jump me when Itachi's back is turned. You'd have to be a psychopath to try anything with Itachi around. Sure, he's head of a very holier-than-thou company, but he also isn't a stranger to killing by a long shot and his gang for the company is merciless. Needless to say, this is very good for business competition… as there **is** none anymore, but it doesn't do much for the people that see him regularly.

Itachi walks right down the alleyway that's supposed to be forbidden to everyone, acting like he owns the whole damn place, and leads me through the 'secret' door with the flashing neon sign over it, smiling like an idiot the whole time. I swear, he has no fear of our father. He also isn't forced to live with the man, unlike some people around here I can name, specifically, me. Bastard.

It was dark inside, as was to be expected of a bar, but I was not expecting everything else that I saw.

The ear-blowing music, the dancing, the grinding, the smell of hard alcohol in the air, the shirtless guys left and right, guys eating each others' faces, it was nothing but migraine-inducing.

I sigh inwardly. It's going to be a **long** night.

Itachi smiles after testing the atmosphere with his eyes, like a snake tastes the air with its tongue, and waves for me to follow him, walking into the crowd of half-naked, almost-fucking-right-on-the-spot guys, and—blackmail still hanging over my head—I tell my self-preservation to take a hike and follow him into the people, sucking in my gut as much as I can to not have to touch any of them. Yes, I was gay too, but I didn't want these horny, 50-year-olds rubbing their sweaty backs up against me. That was beyond migraine-inducing, that was **vomit**-inducing.

After loosing my so-called brother in the crowd a good six times, I finally spot him sitting at a table in a surprisingly calm part of the bar, where people are actually acting like civilized beings. I force my way through the rest of the apes impersonating humans and flop into the booth across from Itachi, glaring at him. My glare grows darker by the second as he doesn't even have the courtesy to acknowledge that I'm glaring at him.

"I guess you want to know why I brought you." Itachi leans toward me, and I press myself further back into the seat behind me, trying to get as far away as possible.

"You know Deidara, right?" Itachi leans back.

Dear gods, please no. If Itachi belongs in an insane asylum, than this man should just be shot on the spot to not take any chances in safety. He's another one in Itachi's band of morons.

"Well, I brought you here to meet someone." Itachi smiles and looks around, signaling a waiter over the second he spots one. "It's Dei's younger cousin, I think you might like him."

Like hell. Just because Itachi is head over fucking heels for his 'friend' Deidara does not mean that I will be able to look at his cousin with anything less than suspicion that he'll have Deidara's obsession for everything that detonated.

"Could you tell Deidara Uzumaki that I'm here?" Itachi asks the waiter sweetly, making the poor man blush as he skitters away like a mouse. Idiot, like he has any chance of being with Itachi… but if the waiter already knows who my brother is, then that means that this is by no means the first time Itachi's been here. Oh fabulous. **Not**.

"He's energetic and looks a lot like Dei, which will be good as I've noticed you looking at Dei before."

I flush the colors of the rainbow, screw just red and pink, and slam my hands down on the table as I shoot out of my seat.

"Why the hell would I want to look at that psychotic, mentally demented, blonde idiot?" I half splutter, half scream, though it doesn't do much good as the music basically drowns my voice out.

"Sit down, Sasuke." Itachi says calmly, looking not at me, but at the booth where I should be sitting, in his opinion at least. After a while, it's clear that he isn't going to give in until the apocalypse, so I growl, gritting my teeth as I lower myself back down.

"Now," he begins calmly, like he's talking to a kindergartener, "the boy has a few things to watch, just to warm you. He lost his parents very young, and has been living with a guardian and Dei on and off for his life, 18 years, you're age. Well, he's a month or two younger, but it's basically the same time."

Inwardly, I feel the smugness coming on. At least he's younger than me. I hate it when older men hit on me, I don't know, it's something about guys who are younger that turns me on. I've always been in a dominant position in life thanks to my family's position, and being in the submissive is really a turn-off.

"But he doesn't do to well with attitudes." Itachi says firmly, obviously 'hinting' at something. I stay silent, ignoring the jab like he did to my glare before.

"Itachi!" Deidara walks happily over to our table, his hands in the air like he's trying to get someone a mile away to notice him, not someone sitting six feet away.

Itachi smiles his blinding smile that makes me want to hurl and lets Deidara plunk right down into his lap and wrap his arms around my brother's pale neck. My ass they're just friends.

"And how is the young mini-Dei doing tonight?" Itachi asks nicely after kissing Deidara lightly on the tip of his nose.

Deidara groans. "The young **hellion**, you mean, un." Deidara forces a smile. "He's being his normal self, un."

I feel my grimace sink more permanently into my face. If this kid annoys **Deidara**, he has to have been a **hell** of a character. Suddenly, I felt like excusing myself and camping out in the bathroom until we can finally leave.

"He had his friend Gaara over today, un, the youngest of the Sabaku kids, you know, un, he works here? **That** little shit is fucking deranged, un." Deidara continues. I groan mentally, looking at the clock over the bar. It was only 10, this night was never going to end.

"So where's this little 'hellion' now?" Itachi asks playfully, taking a sip of the drink he must have ordered before I sat down.

Deidara plucks it from his fingers and sips it, looking around the bar before handing the glass back to Itachi. I was hoping Deidara was dead, as Itachi has a tendency to flip his blessed lid when anyone does something like that, but Itachi just keeps drinking the alcohol. Damn.

"He's somewhere around here, un…" Deidara puts his hands on his hips, standing up to scan the bar, reaching into his pocket slowly and pulling out his clay. This is another nervous tick the prick has. Whenever he isn't doing anything with his hands, he molds random stuff out of clay that he always keeps with him.

"Ah, there he is, un. Naruto!" Deidara waves to a group of waiters standing by the bar. I recognize the boy with brown hair and red tattoos in the shape of fangs on his cheeks as Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga's boyfriend. Hinata is Neji Hyuuga's cousin, and Neji is my cousin, so we see each other fairly regularly. The others are new to me, a boy with brick-red hair and a serious insomnia disorder, judging from the rings around his eyes, and a boy with one earring and a very high ponytail. The last one, the boy with the same hair as Deidara, looks over in confusion before setting his tray on the counter before heading over in our direction.

His hair is very blonde, a little lighter than Deidara's, but it thankfully isn't as long. His bangs are just long enough that it hangs in his sky-blue eyes, giving him one hell of a cute face to boot, and the tight clothes he's wearing flatter his incredibly sexy body unbelievably. The one strange thing, though I thought it made him even sexier, were the symmetrical whisker-like scars on his cheeks, three on each. Shit, I had to stop thinking like that, but **damn**, he's fucking cute!

"Yeah?" he asks, his arms crossed as he stares at Deidara, awaiting whatever Deidara's going to say with obvious impatience. I try not to, but I can't help but notice the way his hips rock when he walks, or the way they're tilted right now because he's resting most of his weight on one leg.

"Naruto, this is Sasuke, un," Deidara gestures to me, "Sasuke, un, this is my midget cousin, Naruto."

"Hey!" Naruto barks, his stance suddenly that much less lax. I swallow, trying to relax myself as I feel my face heating up and the familiar tingling waltzing up and down my spine.

"Naruto, un, Sasuke is Itachi's younger brother, he's your age, un." Deidara sits back down next to Itachi.

Naruto's eyes flick to me, seeming to scrutinize me before he turns back to Deidara.

"Whoopty fucking doo." He says flatly. "What did you call me over for?"

I feel the twitch develop in my eye, and Itachi sighs and Deidara lets his head drop into his hands before looking back up at Naruto.

"Itachi and I though you two might want to get to know each other, un." Deidara tries again nicely.

"Doubt it, Itachi already freaks the hell out of me, I don't need to know another Uchiha, thanks though." Naruto says.

My twitch grows worse. So the shithead always spoke his mind, huh? Itachi's brain is always **way** off, but if he thought that this half-wit and I would fit together, he was even worse than I thought.

"Are we going at anytime soon, or should I drown myself in alcohol to make this less painful, Itachi?" I ask vapidly, shifting on the seat. Naruto looks over at me again, assessing me. I guess he's surprised that my personality is so different from Itachi's, but he also looks rather ticked at my stab to his ego.

"Have whatever you want, but I'm not holding your hair back while you empty your guts into a bucket after drinking too much." Itachi shrugs.

I glare harder, wishing it will burn through his head, and shift again in my seat, trying to find a comfortable position that will be suitable for the next… oh, say… 3 or 4 hours. My eyes drift back to Naruto as everyone keeps talking (Deidara and Naruto arguing, and Itachi occasionally saying something to Deidara) and I find myself mesmerized by everything about him. His legs, his tight, low-riding pants fitting snuggly on his hips, the inch of stomach showing due to his teaser-waiter uniform that every waiter who works here is required to wear, his broad shoulders, his golden hair—Jesus, I can feel the molten lava pooling in my groin—

"What the hell are you staring at, Teme?"

My eyes snap to Naruto's face, meeting his accusing glare with a darker murderous glare that does absolutely nothing to faze him. Am I missing the death part of the glare tonight? Is no one affected?

"Naruto, un." Deidara says warningly. Itachi send me his first real fixed stare of the night, and I can feel his eyes drilling into my skull, but I refuse to surrender to Naruto in this small-scale staring war. I already gave in to Itachi, there was no way in hell I was going to loose to this dumbass.

"Naruto! We got a new wave, get your assets over here and help us out!"

Naruto screws up his face in frustration before caving in and looking away to the voice. I can't help but smirk as I follow his gaze, finding Kiba waving Naruto over, making huge, possibly dangerous motions with his arms, pointing to a huge group of men that just walked in.

"Hurry up!" he barks, grabbing a tray as he jogs off to the most recently filled table.

"Alright, Kiba, get your panties out of a knot!" Naruto shoots me one more dark look before jogging after Kiba; good **god**, his ass—

I can feel the heat rushing to my face, and I grab Itachi's drink and take a gulp out of the revolting liquid to kill the oncoming fire before the color emerges through my skin. The drink burns my throat like acid, and my eyes go blurry for a second at the intensity of the alcohol concentration, but I don't allow myself to even flinch. Being an Uchiha prohibits it. Fucking hell, I know Itachi can hold his alcohol, but I finally identify the nauseating liquid by its smell as Everclear. **Straight**.** Fucking**.** Everclear**. Thank god I only took a sip, or I'd be passed out right now, having never drunken any alcohol before tonight.

"How was that, small stuff, un?" Deidara asks me around his chuckling. Somewhere along the way, he deposited himself back into Itachi's lap and is now stuck to him like rubber glue. I huff and look sharply away to avoid my brother's gaze, and somehow, my eyes gravitate over to the counter again, and ghost over Naruto's body.

He's fucking hot, any bar—gay or straight—would hire him without a second thought, but if he's in a gay bar…

"Dei, Naruto is gay, right?" Itachi asks, winking at me. I scowl; the asshole has the ability to 'read my mind', as he calls it. Sure, he can think that if he wants, I just let my ice mask down there for a second; he read my **face**, that's all.

"If straight is 180 degrees, un," Deidara says casually, nuzzling Itachi's cheek, "then Naruto is exactly 90 degrees. As gay as they come, un, just like me." he finishes with a sexy lace in his voice, and Itachi smiles and licks Deidara's bottom lip. I fight my gag reflex with everything I have and look quickly back to Naruto.

He's leaning against the counter, writing someone's order down on a slip. He calls over the bartender, handing the man the slip and smiling widely at him as they share something. My spine clenches and my fist tightens painfully around the glass in my hand.

"Sasuke." Itachi says warningly, prying the glass from my fingers, one by one. I take a deep breath through my nose and force my grip to relax.

"Naruto, you and Gaara can go for a break now." Two boys walk into the bar from the back door, one was fat with literal swirls on his face, and the other contrastingly skinny, with his uniform collar pulled way up to hide his mouth, not to mention the dark glasses that blocked all views of his eyes.

"'Kay, thanks." Naruto nods without looking over to them, his fingertip tracing a list of orders before he hands it off to them, searching the crowd for whoever Gaara is.

"Gaara, we're on break!" Naruto yells over the music. The red headed insomniac from earlier is dancing with the crowd, grinding and rubbing against some of the customers who had probably asked him to dance. He nods inconspicuously to Naruto before excusing himself politely from the men grinding against him like fucking dogs in heat. Disgusting.

Gaara walks over to Naruto and in one swift moment, has Naruto by the hair and is dragging him out the back door, ignoring Naruto's kicking and protests.

I can feel Itachi watching me, expecting me to do something, like follow them and save Naruto from distress like a motherfucking damsel. Only when I'm dead, brother.

He sighs finally, picking up on the fact that I'm quite comfortable sitting where I am, thank you, and stands up, sliding Deidara off of him and onto the booth.

"I suppose we better get going." He says reluctantly, his hand lingering in Deidara's a little longer than my stomach would have liked.

"Come back, un?" Deidara asks seductively, standing up and sliding his arms around Itachi's waist. Itachi smiles his incubus smile and strokes Deidara's cheek.

"Soon." He promises in a whisper. "With Sasuke. Warm Naruto up a little, will you?"

"Itachi!" I shout, wrenching myself out of the seat and storming up to him, ignoring the fact that he still towers over me even thought I stopped growing long ago. "Get it through your thick skull! We don't fucking fit! He's a blonde moron, not to mention how obnoxious---"

"I'm sure father would love to know you were here." Itachi cuts me off. "He always did want you to spend more time with me, to become more like me." his watches me out of the corner of his eye, the corner of his lip pulling up into his witch doctor smirk, the one he only uses when threatening someone.

My mouth keeps moving, but my voice box has been severed from my tongue to keep me from saying anything stupid, a sort of self-preservation reflex, if you must. He has me there, unless I want to face Fugaku Uchiha's rage. Yeah, I don't fucking think so. I like living, despite what you might think.

"Fuck off and die." I snarl, whirling and parting the crowds viciously to get the hell out of this place. My lip pulls back more as I can feel the smug triumph radiating off of Itachi, as he knows perfectly well that those four words are my way of giving in, which I did far to much of tonight.

************Naruto's POV************

"I hate this job." Gaara snarls. "Dancing with horny 60-year-old men is in no way my idea of a good time." 

"Are you gay?" I ask, looking over at him. This isn't a dumb question, I really don't know.

"It wouldn't make me want to dance with ancient men anymore than I do now."

Smartass. I roll my eyes impatiently. "No, really."

Gaara pauses, staring at the brick wall opposite us. "I don't know." He says finally. "Never really had a chance to try anything like that."

I make a mental note to work on that and find out if it kills me.

I pull the box of cigarettes out of my pocket and bring it up to my mouth, securing the end of one in my lips and taking it slowly from the box.

I'd never liked smoking, hell, I didn't even want to start! But Kiba dared me, the bastard that he is, and I haven't been able to quit since. It puts a hell of a dent in my income, but I'm not exactly living on my own yet, so it's not a problem.

I slide my lighter from my pocket and flip it open, lighting the end of the straight nicotine wrapped in paper and take a drag. I blowing out slowly and watching how the smoke swirls up into the night air.

The smoke always burns my eyes and my throat, and I can't stand the smell, but like I said, it's straight nicotine, it's harder to stop than it looks.

"I thought you were trying to quit." Gaara accuses, staring at me harshly.

"I am." I agree lightly, bringing the paper back up to my lips, but before I can inhale, Gaara snatches it right out of my fingers and drops it into a puddle of cat piss or whatever it is by his feet, grinding it into the pavement with his toe until it's a small blob of white mush, completely un-smoke-able.

"Hey!" I yell in protest, though I'm way to late to do anything about it.

"Then **quit**." Gaara says dangerously. I immediately back down, having known Gaara for this long has taught me when to just give up to save my skin.

I try to stay quiet, I really do, but my mouth has a mind of it's own. And I'm convinced it's the mind of a suicidal demon.

"It helps me to relax!" I whine, leaning back against the outside wall of the bar. "I can't handle Iruka nagging and Dei on my tail all day long! I need something to help me cool down, and this job doesn't exactly let me do that with Deidara around, and then I have to go back home to Iruka! Yeah, sure, it's great he took me in and all…" I pause, choosing my words, "but he acts like he owns me and controls what I do, especially after Kyuu just up and disappeared like smoke. It's a pain in the ass!"

"Then do something about it." Gaara growls. Yeesh, what a friend, huh? He's so encouraging.

"Hey, let's get an apartment together!"

"…**What**?" Gaara looks at me like I'm off my rocker. Obviously, he doesn't see the brilliance in my plan.

"Come on!" I plead excitedly. "You can't afford one on your own, and I sure as hell can't, it'd be perfect! See, we split the cost, you get away from your family, I get away from my damn-ass annoying guardians, what do you think?" By now, I'm actually jumping up and down in excitement.

Gaara looks to the wall opposite us and take a huge breath before muttering, "Sure," under his breath.

I scream in happiness, dancing around the alley like a high idiot who didn't even get into junior high until Gaara tells me to "Quit acting like a fucking retard and sit the hell down before he comes over and shoves his shoe down my throat". Such a kind, caring friend (that's sarcasm, people), but he's my best friend and has been since preschool, so I love him, twisted, violence, self-mutilation and all.

Gaara has a hell of a family history, starting when his mother died giving birth to him. His father blamed him, and it rubbed off onto his older brother and sister, Kankuro and Temari. Then, when Gaara was six, his psychopath uncle (mother's brother) broke out of Bellevue or whatever asylum he was in and tried to hunt Gaara down for 'killing' his sister. Gaara knocked a vase off his staircase by accident when he was running from the psycho and smash, caved his uncle's head in, and ten years later, Gaara's dad gets killed in a car accident. Now, apparently, his siblings are trying to breach the gap, and I personally don't blame Gaara for telling them to go fuck themselves for ignoring him all those years. I probably would have too.

And, yeah, the self-mutilation is true. I walked home with him after school one day so we could work on homework together (AKA: I walked home with him to copy off his homework) and I went to the bathroom, and when I came back, there was a river of blood on the floor. Turns out he carved the kanji for 'love' into his forehead with his father's letter opener. Took me ten minutes to stop the bleeding, because cuts above the eye bleed a hell of a lot more than anywhere else in the body—unless you're counting the main arteries—and even then, Gaara was out for a week afterwards because he was so weak from low blood pressure.

Then, after that, I almost never saw him anymore because of his dumbass therapist. And then I put my foot down (literally), somehow managed to fracture my ankle in doing so, and effectively stopped Gaara from going to the freaky sadist his family called a therapist.

He and I have been in some wild times together, though he's usually the more violent one in the mix. I got bullied all the time in school, until Gaara started sticking up for me. Gaara's own special way of sticking up for someone? Well, the routine was: I got bullied, Gaara found out from my bruises and my lame cover-up stories for why I had gotten them, practically hunted down the kids who did it, put them all in the hospital, got suspended, and then the cycle started all over again until people finally got that they were going to loose an arm if they picked on me. But we've also been arrested once, ran away from the cops at the 'scene of the crime' a few times to avoid getting arrested because we were always blamed even if it wasn't our fault, gotten drunk at fifteen, and now we're working at a bar where we're serving alcohol, underage and everything.

"It's a great idea, right?" I blubber excitedly, because this might just have been the best day of my entire fucking life. "I mean, you're like my only family—"

"Huzzah for me." Gaara grumbles.

"—and if you're away from your family, then we can just live on our own—"

"No shit." He sighs, clearly aggravated by my volume.

"…this is going to rock!" I shout, throwing my fists into the air.

"Who was that kid?"

"Huh?" I look over in confusion at Gaara's sudden question. I almost missed it it was so fast.

"The kid with you, looks like Uchiha. Who was he?" Gaara stares at me, scrutinizing every twitch I make and every word I say. I hate when he does this, I can't get anything past him.

The heat starts to pool into my cheeks, and I desperately try and force it back while acting as normal as possible.

"Sasuke, Itachi's little brother." I shrug. "Why?"

Gaara smirks, and I suddenly don't feel so good anymore. His smirk is fucking scary, I could see why his siblings would be terrified of him… well, I **would** be able to if I didn't know him so well.

"No reason." He says nonchalantly. "Just that he was practically fantasizing about you right at the table. Uchihas must have a thing for Uzumakis."

There's no stopping my blush now. It hits me like a tsunami, and I actually stumble back, spluttering and rattling off unintelligible sounds that would shame penguin-speak at his words, because **damn** does he have a way with them.

Gaara chuckles, the one that would make serial killers run for the hills with their tails between their legs, and my body temperature drops another ten degrees.

"You're blushing?" he mocks. "You never blush. What, you got a thing for him?"

"WHAT? NO! THAT'D BE—"

"Well give it up." Gaara cuts me off, leaning back further against the wall behind us. "He's an Uchiha, you don't have a chance, especially because Deidara's already claimed the older one."

That cuts me off. My gaze drops to the ground and I lean back against the wall with him. "I know." I mumble. I know Gaara cares for me, he's just trying to protect me, but he doesn't exactly have the best people skills. That translated from Gaara language is: don't try and go after him, if you can't be with him because of your social status it'll kill you. I got pretty damn good at Gaara language when we first met in preschool because he didn't really know how to talk any other way.

"You know you just admitted to liking him, right?" Gaara snickers.

"I DID NOT!" I bellow, wrenching off the wall and facing him, one of my fists in his face.

The little shit just smirks again.

My face must look like a sunburned tomato. Bright red. Because it feels like it's 1,032 degrees right now.

"What the hell do you even see in him?" Gaara asks rudely. Translation: what is appealing to you about him? I want to know so I know what to look for in someone.

Yeah, he isn't very good about speaking his mind.

I groan, moving back to the wall and whack my head against the brick a few times. "I—don't—know!" I say between whacks.

"You just admitted it."

I do another impersonation of a fish before realizing that there's nothing I can say to counter that, and even if I did, it would be too late anyway, so I just settle for banging my head against the wall faster, and Gaara helps the situation immensely by laughing at my inflicting brain damage upon myself. He's such a good friend (that's more sarcasm).

"Whatever." He says finally. "Break's over, let's go." He pushes off the wall and heads for the door.

I sigh before following, though it takes me a while to find my way to the door and actually grasp the handle to open it, because I'm really dizzy now, and the second I put one foot through the door, a hand practically being shoved up my nose makes me grind to a halt.

Gaara's standing there, glaring accusingly at me with his hand outstretched.

"But Gaara—" I whine, or start to whine, instantly knowing what he wants.

"Now, Uzumaki." He snarls, his lip actually pulling back like a rabid dog, or I should say raccoon, because of the insomnia rings around his eyes.

"Gaara—!" I try again, holding my hand protectively over my pocket, eeping quietly at his glare. One word: death. This is the glare that says as clearly as if he were actually saying it out loud, 'If you don't give those to me, I will slit your throat with a rusty butter knife and watch while you drown on your own blood that runs down your throat into your lungs.'

I quickly hand over the pack of cigarettes in my pocket, scuttling as far away from him as possible as he steps back out of the bar. He winds his arm back, hurling the box out of the alley where it lands in a puddle in the road and a car promptly runs it over. Someone up there hates me.

"And don't buy anymore." Gaara snaps, grabbing me by my hair and dragging me back inside, as usual, ignoring my cries of pain and protest against the torture. Ok, so maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but it still hurts.

************(Sasuke's POV)************

"Ok, let me get this straight. Itachi wanted to take you to a gay bar, you went—"

"I was forced." I growl into the receiver of the phone.

"—and you met someone. **Deidara Uzumaki's **cousin." The boy claries in disbelief. "Who hates you, and you want me to go back there with you, without Itachi, to keep his friends busy while you try—and most likely fail—to hit it off with him."

"Fail?" I repeat dangerously. I. **Never**. Fail. At. **Anything**.

"Sasuke, I have a girlfriend!" He yells, forcing me to jerk the phone away from my ear to save my eardrum. "Do you know what'll happen if I'm seen there and it gets out? First of all, my uncle will flip his lid like the end of the world is coming and flog me upside the head for being gay, because you can't have heirs with two guys, which he wants me to take on—"

"Neji, what the hell else am I supposed to do?" I bark, my temper rising quickly. "Like hell I'm going back with Itachi, nothing will ever happen except me—"

"Drooling?" Neji cuts me off. "What is **with** you? Nothing fazed you and all of a sudden you **look** at this Naruto—ONCE—and you're head over heels—"

"Look, are you going with me or not?" I snap, the pen in my hand about to break from my vice grip.

Neji sighs into the phone, and I can almost see his pearl-grey eyes staring into space like they always do when he's thinking hard about something.

"Why am I taking you?" Neji asks finally, giving in.

I feel the smirk crawl onto my face before I quickly wipe it away. "I don't know why you're taking me, you hide yourself too well for me to be able to predict what you'd do and why."

Neji groans into the phone. "Alright, I got it, but you're going with my cover-up story no matter what it is."

"Whatever, just spit it out."

"What the hell is your hurry? You planning on going back tonight or something? It's only been… two… days…"

My pause tells Neji exactly what he needs to know. He isn't known as a genius for nothing.

"Aw, shit! Come on, Sasuke, give me a fucking break! I'm right in the middle of—"

"Deidara's over here now, which means it might be the only time in months I can be there without him breathing down my neck." I cut him off.

Another painful pause fills the air.

"Now?" Neji groans. "I promised Tenten I would—"

"Tell her something came up, if she's your girlfriend, she understand."

"You have a lot of faith in that." Neji accuses, sighing again when I remain silent. "Pick me up in ten minutes." He says curtly, and promptly hangs up.

I smirked triumphantly and close my cell phone, sliding it into my pocket as I reached for my coat. I yank it on and grab my wallet, walking as casually down the stairs as I can. Wolves can smell your fear, and presently, I have two in my house, a blonde one, and a larger version of me. I hate how much we look alike.

"Where you off to, small stuff?" Deidara asks.

I nearly throw up right there on the stairs. Deidara is straddling my brother's legs on the couch, **with his shirt off**. I don't want to see it, but the damage is done. I've already looked, and Itachi's shirt is half open, and I can see the saliva glistening on his skin. I look away and fight my lurching stomach, commanding myself not to barf up my lungs in front of him.

"Why the hell can't you stay in your fucking room?" I yell, getting out of the living room and heading for the front door as fast as I can. "What the hell are you even doing here anyway?"

"Mother and father aren't home, and my house is being remodeled, so I'm here spending some time with my wonderful little brother." Itachi answers like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "And because I don't have a couch in my room."

"Then bring the damn thing up there!" I bellow, wrenching on my shoes.

"Don't you want a couch down here?"

"I wont **ever** be sitting on that thing again after this!"

"Where you going?"

"Neji's!" I bark, grabbing my keys off the hook.

"Do you have a special place for **him** in your heart, un, or can we still try and get you and Naruto together?" Deidara asks bluntly.

I trip over my own feet at the comment, and promptly smash my head against the door as I fall. I stumble back, rubbing the welt I can feel forming on my forehead tenderly.

"Neji has a girlfriend!" I yell, heaving open the door with enough force to almost take it off its hinges.

"But you could still like him, un." Deidara points out innocently.

My face contorts with disgust. "HE'S JUST A FRIEND!" I roar, storming out of the door and slamming it as hard as I can.

************(3rd Person POV)************

"So, un?" Deidara asks Itachi as soon as Sasuke is gone.

Itachi shakes his head in an almost disappointed way. "No, they're just friends, you can tell by his tone of voice. We can keep trying with Naruto."

"Perfect, un." Deidara purrs, leaning back into Itachi's lips.

************(Sasuke's POV)************

My tires scream against the pavement as I do a turn into Neji's driveway that only stunt men should be allowed to do and lean on the horn, still fuming from Deidara and Itachi. It's a miracle I didn't get pulled over, I was doing 80 when I first started out and I know I accelerated way past that. To put that in perspective, it usually takes me half an hour to get her, and it only took me ten minutes—less actually.

Hinata's out in the garden with Kiba's dog Akamaru, staring at me like I've lost it. The thing they call a dog must be mutated, it comes up to Kiba's chest, and Hinata's head and shoulders shorter than Kiba, so the dog's as big as she is.

…I probably have lost it.

"Shut the hell up, Uchiha! I'm coming!" Neji shouts, storming out of the house. I take pity on their ears and take my arm off the wheel.

"Christ, we have kids on this street you know, it's late, don't wake them all up." Neji snaps, sitting down heavily in the passenger seat. Yeah, like I give a damn.

The tires screech again on the road and we tear off toward the bar as soon as the door is shut, Neji hanging onto his seat like a lifeline the whole time.

RR&R!

(Read, Rate & Review!)


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own anything but my ideas. Be warned, a lot of POV changes in this chapter

Schemes and Unforeseen Outcomes

By the time we reached the bar, I'd slowed down to normal speeds—well, normal if you own an Aston Martin Vanquish with tops speeds of 190 miles per hour, and I'd nearly given Neji three heart attacks and four aneurysms. I screech into a parking spot and step out, slamming the door behind me as I walk down the alley, Neji—a little shaken, the wuss that he is—following me as I walk.

The flashing neon sign's as bright as day again, and I shield my eyes as I pull open the door, ducking inside. Neji walks in behind me, wincing at the sudden blare of music at 160 decibels as I lead him toward the counter.

The guy behind the desk grumbles, "20 bucks each," and holds out his hand lazily.

I pull out my money, ignoring the attitude and try to hand it to the guy. He probably has drug-withdrawal symptoms. He looks up, takes one look at me, freaks out like he's just seen the devil and promptly falls backwards out of his chair. Yep, paranoid, definitely drugs.

"You Uchiha's kid?" he asks breathlessly, scrambling back up into his seat and looking at me wide-eyed.

My neck clenches and I grit my teeth as I try not to attack someone. **Son**? I think I'm going to hurl, and if I do, preferably all over this egotistical asshole. "Brother." I grind out and shove my money harshly in his face, practically sticking it up his nose.

He holds his hands up and shakes his head frantically. "No sir, you're admission is on the house. Mr. Uzumaki said he'd have our hide if we charged any of the Uchihas."

I know that he's talking about Deidara, but I can't help the way my heart splutters at the mention of Naruto's last name. Well, this proves I'm gay. This could also prove the theory of love at first sight. We've exchanged all of two sentences, and I haven't been able to get him out of my head for two days straight. Hell, I had a wet dream about him last night, and I'd stopped having those a good year ago after my father walked in on me jerking off. As a result of that horrific incident, I haven't touched myself since then, and every time I think about my father's face, how disgusted he seemed, any 'problems' in my lower regions immediately go down. Well, apparently not anymore.

"Is he with you?" the man stutters nervously, pointing at Neji.

"Yeah." I nod, still trying to keep my lunch **inside** my stomach.

"You're on the house too, kid, enjoy." He waves us in, his arm actually shaking. Evidently, I'm not the only one freaked out by Deidara, though I'm not really surprised by that.

I lead Neji through the people, picking out a table by the wall and sitting down heavily.

"Hey, Sasuke!" Kiba walks over to us, a tray under his arm, a notepad in one hand and a pen in the other, then he turns to Neji, clearly confused. "Um, does Tenten know about this?"

"I'm not here because I want to be!" Neji barks. "I was dragged here!"

"Ah." Kiba nods, still not entirely convinced. "Well, can I get you guys something?"

"I'm still underage." Neji shakes his head.

"No one checks your age here." Kiba says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "We have french vanilla white russian." he suggests. "Long island ice tea, vesper, margarita, we got a bunch or different fruit daiquiris, piña coladas, martini… black Russian, Kamikaze…? We have rum and coke if you want to start of light, our own blend. It's three parts coke and one part rum, good for first timers."

"Sure." I say blandly, looking around inconspicuously for that mop of golden locks. Anything as long as it isn't an Everclear; my head was killing me that night just from one sip of that stuff.

"I guess I'll have that too." Neji gives in finally.

"Alright, be right back." Kiba smiles at us and walks off to the bar.

"Is that him?" Neji asks after a while, nodding discreetly at the bar.

My eyes wander over to the shadows where Neji is indicating and my heart splutters unevenly for a split second when I meet those sky blue eyes, but it ends too soon when he looks away embarrassedly. What was that expression? Jealousy? No way, just because I'm sitting with Neji?

************(Naruto's POV)************

"Gaara!" I shove the piece of paper I was carrying into his hands. "See? It's cheap, roomy, comfortable… what do you think?" I blubber, a thing I tend to do when I'm excited.

Gaara sets the apartment add on the countertop and scans over it briefly. "It's alright." He mutters disinterestedly. Translation: Good find, I'm looking forward to this and to getting away from Kankuro and Temari.

I smile widely and lean against the counter, waiting for the next round of people to serve. And then I see him.

His midnight hair and porcelain skin are unmistakable for anyone else's, as I've never seen anyone so pale before, not even Itachi, Deidara's freaky boyfriend. I inwardly wonder how much our skin would contrast when next to each other, his is so white, and mine in contrast looks like I live on mercury it's so tan. He's flawless, and he looks so delicate, like a China doll that would shatter with one wrong move.

"You're staring." Gaara chuckles.

"Huh?" I ask, slightly in a daze. Ok, I'm not even going to try to deny it, he's fucking hot. But who's the guy with him? Didn't Deidara bring him in two days ago to introduce him to **me**? I know Deidara's cracked, but I couldn't help but notice everything about this boy the second I saw him, maybe Dei wasn't too far off the mark this time. The way his black eyes caught the light like onyxes, the way he gripped something tightly or fisted his hand when he was flustered, the pink taint that stained his pale cheeks… I was so turned on I almost had to excuse myself in the middle of the conversation to go relieve myself of my 'problem' in the bathroom.

I can't help it—hell, maybe there actually is such a thing as love at first sight—I'm actually getting jealous over a kid I've said all of two sentences to. Am I shallow or what? Hey, it isn't my fault! He was the one staring at **me** first! I just snapped at him out of my embarrassed, stupid self-defense!

And in my stupor, my reactions are too delayed and dimwitted to realize that he's looking at me staring at him like a wide-eyed owl until our eyes have met for a good two and a half seconds. My head snaps to the side the second my brain catches up with me, breaking our gaze. Shit, please let me not be blushing.

"Hand caught in the cookie jar?" Gaara teases me, sipping at his drink. I just huff embarrassedly.

************(Sasuke's POV)************

He was staring at me. The actual make-the-effort-to-turn-your-body type of staring. I was stunned; he seemed so disinterested two days ago.

"Here you go, enjoy." Kiba smiles widely at us and thunks our drinks down in front of us before walking back to the counter, the place it seemed all the waiters hung out if they had nothing to do.

Neji sighs loudly and picks up his drink, downing half of it before turning to me.

"Which one's his friend?" he asks, clearly wanting to get this over with as soon as possible.

"You see the redhead over there?" I ask, staring at the table as I sip my drink. Hmm, not half bad. A hell of a lot better than Everclear at least.

"The deranged insomniac?" Neji asks. I can here the skepticism and the hope in his voice that we aren't talking about the same person. Sorry, too bad for you.

"Yep." I say around my glass.

"You sure you want to try and hit it off with this guy? If he has friends like that…" Neji says in an almost warning tone.

"And if that's just the way he looks?" I interrupt, slightly ticked at the comment.

"You're defending him?" Neji chuckles.

My grip tightens around my glass and it takes all the self-control I have not to break it. Out of what, embarrassment? Anger? I have no idea, but for whatever reason, it rubbed me the wrong way.

"Are you going to do this or not?" I snap.

Neji sighs and stands. "You're lucky you have me as a friend, no one else would do this unless they were getting paid in the hundreds."

"I'm not asking you to get laid by him." I point out.

This times, its Neji's turn to be flustered as he flounders around for words. "Whatever." He grumbles and stalks off to the counter. I can't help but smirk triumphantly. Sasuke, 1, Neji, 0.

Well, now it's my turn. But how the hell do I make my first move?

************(Neji's POV)************

Sasuke owes me **big** for this. I'm straight, and he wants me to pose as a gay guy and go hit on a disturbed waiter to keep him busy until he hits it off with a different waiter. Oh yeah, he owes me a lifetime of servitude for this, that is, after I'm done harassing him until the apocalypse about being gay and after I blackmail him a little bit on his sexuality. Hell, if I play this the right way, it could even be fun.

I sit down at the bar quietly, not watching anything in particular for the first few minutes. I know how to get dates, I picked up Tenten like this at a school dance, so I've set up my positioning perfectly. Sit a seat or two away from where they are, don't invade their personal space, but don't sit so far away that it's a nuisance for them to come over to you.

The bartender walks over and asks me if I want something to drink.

"In a little bit." I nod politely. Never turn down a drink flat-out, it's a clear sign of disinterest.

After about four minutes (long enough to get everyone's curiosity going), I turn my head just a little so that it becomes more obvious that I'm looking at him.

It doesn't take long for Naruto (or whatever Sasuke said the blonde was called) to notice me, but he's good and inconspicuous about letting his friend know. He nudges the redhead with his elbow, tipping his head towards me without looking up.

The redhead's also good. He waits a minute before glancing up to see who Naruto was motioning to, and when he meets my eyes, he doesn't look away. There really wouldn't be any point after I'd already seen him looking at me. So, no embarrassment, huh?

"Can I get you something?" he asks me finally, breaking the ice.

"Can I buy you a drink?" I ask, looking pointedly at the seat next to me. Hey, I'm not going for subtleties, I'm not trying to hit on him, I just need him distracted for an hour or so. Not too hard to do if you know what you're doing.

"…A drink would be nice." He says after a moment, sitting down at my side. I can tell from his stance that he's just doing this because he's getting paid for it. Well then… I can feel the smirk pulling at the corners of my lips as my plan unfolds in my head.

I have this weird thing I do, where I turn everything that resists me into a challenge. This was just a job routine for him? Well, I was going to have some fun challenging myself into taking things a little… **deeper**. Maybe tonight wouldn't be a total waste after all.

"Neji." I hold out my hand.

"…Gaara." He says after a moment and takes my hand, evaluating me. His grip is firm, like he could crush my hand easily if he wanted to, but also like he could bandage up a wound delicately, causing no pain. Interesting contrast.

"What would you like?" I ask, leaning forward on the counter and toward him inconspicuously.

"…Something not to strong, I still have to work until two." He puts his elbows on the counter.

I wave the bartender over and give him our orders, turning back to Gaara with a light smile, which he seems to be…** immune to**. This is going to be a resistant one, huh? I can work with that.

"Here you go." The bartender sets the glasses in front of us, winks at Gaara, and walks over to the next man at the bar, leaving Gaara glaring at him. Jesus **Christ** that's a scary glare.

He picks up his glass and swirls the liquid around in it a little before turning to me. "You here with Uchiha?"

I nod and sip my drink, a virgin something, I don't remember what I ordered (to preoccupied on my challenge), but I remembered specifically asking for virgin. I'm not a wuss, but this is my first time drinking alcohol, I need to take it easy.

"Is he here to see Naruto?"

I nearly choke, but manage to swallow before it travels down my windpipe and suffocates me. What a way to die, smothered by a virgin drink. Geez, my uncle would have a cow that I wasn't 'manly' enough to at least die on some sort of hard shit alcohol. He probably wouldn't even care that I was dead.

I set my glass down as smoothly as I can and look over to Gaara. He's watching me, scrutinizing my reaction and my answer.

"What makes you say that?" It's denial, I know, but Sasuke will disembowel me with a butter knife and eat my soul if I say something I'm not supposed to. Maybe I can use his owed lifetime of servitude to get out of that fate if I screw up, but the chances are slim. Sasuke's got a twenty-foot long icicle stuck up his ass and doesn't bend easily, I should know, I've known him since he was born, when I was a year old.

"Because he's been staring at Naruto for the past half hour, and he's barely touched his drink." Gaara returns easily, sipping at his drink again.

Well, no point in hiding it now. "Yes, he is."

Gaara seems to weigh something for a second before reaching a conclusion. "Excuse me for a second." Gaara turns around and snags Kiba's shirtsleeve.

"Naruto's going to serve Uchiha now." He says quietly.

"Why?" Kiba asks accusingly.

"Because I'm going to cave your head in with a bottle opener if you go near him again."

Another near choking experience at that last comment, but I'm quiet enough that no one notices me clawing for air and I can continue to listen to what they say.

"No, I meant, like, **why**?" Kiba says, acting exasperated, but I see him take a wary step backwards and away from Gaara anyway as he speaks. It's the self-preservation units, the ones that keep you from saying stupid shit or move you out of harm's way as much as it can, which can be quite useful at times I'll admit.

"The Uchiha's here to see him." Gaara turns back to the bar.

"Oh… **Oh**." Kiba nods. "Alright, I'll tell him and save my head."

"Hmm." Gaara says around his drink, staring uninterestedly at the wall in front of us.

Wow, he had one hell of a personality. The way he was so laid back and uninterested yet, just barely out of reach… it was **fascinating**. I'd never tried to pick up a guy before, and none of the girls I'd ever 'challenged' myself on had ever been… well, they'd all thrown themselves willingly into my lap, so there was never really a challenge there.

"Nice tattoo." I comment, looking at the red kanji for 'love' on his forehead right above his eye.

"It's a scar." He corrects nonchalantly, like it was an everyday thing to see someone with the kanji for love carved in their skin.

"…Abuse?" I ask quietly, and **hopefully**, if I'm being honest with myself.

He shakes his head. "I did it, with a letter opener."

I turn back to my drink, suddenly wishing that it wasn't virgin, or even more so, wishing that this conversation would end. I'm going to need some really strong alcohol if he asks—

"And what about yours?" he asks.

"…My what?" I'm resisting the urge to nail my hand to the counter, because the natural human impulse is to touch things when they are being mentioned. And presently, I'm trying to keep my fingers as far away from my forehead as I can.

"Your scar." He elaborates.

My blood runs cold and my hand clenches in an effort to stay away from the mark that runs across my forehead. I committed that 'crime' when I was fifteen, when I was really starting to have had it with my uncle and his dictatorship on my life, and now I wear a leather sweatband to hide the scar, and myself. It's leather, thick, you can't see through it with light, and no one ever asks me about it, though I'm pretty sure Sasuke and Hinata—well, and now Gaara—have figured out why I wear it. To hide the mark on my forehead.

"I'm wearing a band…" I choke out, "how did you see…?"

"…Once you do things yourself, you notice them easier in other people." He says quietly. "What was yours for?"

I know what he means, everyone has a reason for doing something, and even though half of me desperately doesn't want to talk about it, the other half is begging for relief, to be able to confide in someone, and who better than someone I'll probably never see again, and has also done it to himself? Exactly, there isn't anyone.

"…It's for trapped bird, caged, or whatever you want to call it. My father and mother died when I was young, I've never been on very good terms with my uncle." I raise my glass to my lips, when out of nowhere, he sets his glass down in front of me with a small thunk. I pause, looking between his eyes and the glass, my drink in midair.

"You need to relax." He says quietly. "It's not strong, but it's got alcohol, try it."

I pick it up gratefully and sip at the drink, letting the liquid fire start to soak into my bloodstream and calm my heart rate down.

"What about yours?" I ask when I've got my breathing under control again. I don't relieve those memories very often, they're painful, I always shove them into a corner and tell myself that I'll face them some other time, but I never do, I tell myself that same thing every time.

"…My mother died giving birth to me, and my father hated me for it, before he died in a car accident. My uncle tried to kill me when I was six, and my siblings have hated me for the past twelve years of my life. I've just been… deprived of love for a very long time."

Jesus hell. And I thought **I** had it bad.

"Do you still want to be…?" I don't even know how to attempt to finish that sentence.

"I don't really know. Naruto became my family, and that sort of filled the gap. He's always stuck by me no matter what I did… he's technically the reason I'm still alive right now too. I was going to bleed out because of this thing," his fingers traced his scar idly, "but he wouldn't let me, like the stubborn idiot that he is." Gaara grumbles. "He stopped the bleeding, dragged my sorry ass to the hospital, and then did a hell of a better job than my dumbass therapist did in making me see that I had reasons to live, that I wasn't just a waste of space… like my family thought."

"You two seem close." I note.

"…Yeah." He nods.

My eyes glance to the side, and watch as he stares off into space, casting the occasional glance towards me. His eyes… the black rings from insomnia makes them a little creepy, but they're actually a pretty and gentle blue. Not to say that my eyes aren't a little creepy either, pearl white and no pupils, but underneath, his show much more depth than mine.

"Do you want to dance?" I ask, completely unsure as to why the hell I did ask.

"…Sure." He pushes slowly way from the counter, waiting until I'm standing before leading me out into the dance floor.

Well **that** was a hell of a backfired plan, but… I got my scar and my issues off my shoulders anyway, so it was worth it. I glance over to Sasuke, and see the mop of golden hair standing over him. I smirk, planning all of my ways to make him pay me back for being here. Yep, this was going to be fun.

************(Sasuke's POV)************

I have no idea how in the hell I plan on doing this.

Neji's distracting his friend, but now what? And so I'm sitting here like an idiot, drinking my… my… whatever Kiba brought me, trying to figure out how the hell I plan on wooing Naruto in submission… or at least, into sitting down with me.

Ok, this is not my fault. I never dated. Ever. My father was a grade fanatic, I was sent to the highest fucking private school in the country, and passed highest in my class all throughout high school and middle school. My father is the kind of man where anything lower than a ninety-eight is punishable by electroshock therapy, so I had no time for girls. Yes, I know I'm gay, you don't have to inform me of that again, but if I'd started dating guys in high school… well, my father wouldn't have disowned me, because Itachi was already a loose cannon around him and he trusted Itachi about as far as he could throw him, so he needed me like a pawn, but I shiver to think of what he would have done to snap me out of my 'mental illness', which is what he refers to 'gay' as. A lobotomy maybe… and ice baths. Probably some carbon dioxide treatment sessions too.

"Did you want something?"

I look up to the voice, and choke on my tongue. Naruto's standing above me, with the cutest fucking flustered expression I have **ever** seen on any human being.

"Huh?" I don't even remember what he asked because his expression is so cute. He's looking down at the floor with a pink dusting on his cheeks, he's gripping the tray under his arm just a little too tightly, and his body is rigid. Wow, I have to remember to breathe before I pass out. I think my heart stopped there for a second.

"Kiba said you wanted something." Naruto grinds out, his lips tight in agitation. Damn he's cute.

"No." I say quietly, taking in his features while I have the chance because he's not looking at me. The sexy scars, the long blonde bangs, the blue eyes, the defined features, the cute nose, I'm drooling, I just know it. I wipe the corners of my mouth just to make sure I'm not. Great, now the paranoia is sinking in and I'm starting to loose it. Ok, clam down.

"Oh." Wow, his face just went an even deeper red. I didn't think that was possible.

I look around quickly, and find Neji **dancing** with the redhead of all things to distract him. Wow, he doesn't even like to dance with Tenten… he better not be expecting me to pay him for this. Well, while the Naruto's friend is preoccupied, I might as well use the situation to my advantage.

"You want to sit down?" I ask quietly, sipping my drink.

"M-me?"

No, the Naruto standing on my other side.

"Oh, um—I mean, I'm working, but I have a little—I guess—I mean… ok." He finishes stupidly, sliding into the seat opposite me, placing his tray on the table with a small clang.

Silence is always uncomfortable, but presently, I have absolutely no idea what to say, so the silence continues. Oh well.

"So Deidara and Itachi brought you here to meet me?"

Was that hope in his voice? …I'm going to classify it as just one of my absurd delusions and just pretend it never happened.

"Yeah. Blackmail. My father doesn't know I'm gay." Why the **hell** did I just tell him that? Sewing lips together now.

"Oh." He paused a moment before my words sank in. "Your brother blackmails you?" he asks in disbelief.

"Regularly." I reply dryly. What? It's the truth!

"Mine probably would too, but I thought he was the only one." He laughs loudly.

"You have a brother?" Good, topic for conversation. I feel my stomach sink when his awkward smile takes a sharp dip.

"…Had." He says slowly.

Shit, not a good topic. Damn it. Think, think, **think**!

"He went missing a while back, three years now." He says quietly, his hands folding tightly in his lap.

I'll try and side step that. "Was he older or younger?"

"Older… technically."

"…Twins?"

"Yeah. And Itachi's obviously older." He snickers.

How can he still look so happy? We're talking about the possible death of his twin brother, and only three years ago! "You said he went missing?"

"Idiot was always running with people on the dark side of the city, and yeah, he and his freaky friends disappeared one night and left me with my dumbass guardian." Naruto smiles sheepishly, like it was a joke. How can he be so happy talking about this?

"Police?" I suggest.

Naruto shakes his head. "No point, if he doesn't want to be found, he wont be. His gang is like… almost as bad as Dei's, they really know how to hide underground and still be active."

I look at him in confusion. Underground and active? How the hell does that work?

He crosses his arms, leaning back against the booth as he thinks of how to explain it better. Please do, now I'm interested. I know enough about these things because of Itachi. They aren't underground, per say, but Itachi's so high up in the business world that they're kind of left alone.

"Hmm…" Naruto taps his bottom lip with the knuckle of his forefinger in thought and I have to remember to not blush at all costs, or drool for that matter.

"You heard anything about the recent Juvy (Juvenile Hall) break of Shukaku Suna? He's my brother's best friend, he broke him out."

"How do you know?" I ask around my drink. Wow, this kid had some serious family history. Intriguing.

Naruto smirks. "Cause he used to do the same thing to get out of detention. He'd show up, and then just disappear."

I nod and finally finish my drink, setting it down on the table with a small thunk.

"Enjoying everything?"

I look up to the cool voice and instantly grimace again. It's Sasori, another bastard friend of my brother. In case I forgot to mention, Sasori and Deidara are business partners that own this bar, my brother's business partner is Kisame, a freak that I can't consider human because of how much he looks like a shark mutation, and a bunch of other fucking creeps that Itachi calls his friends. Sasori and Deidara used to be in a relationship, but after they broke up, they stayed friends and went into business with their fucked up art and their so-called 'creative' ideas.

"Nice to see you again Sasuke, how is your brother?"

The grimace starts to become permanent on my face. "Fine." I say curtly. "And what about your grandmother?" I'm just asking to be polite, nothing else. If I had any say in this, Sasori and Deidara would have been locked away with the titans a **long** time ago.

"Dead, she died three days ago." He says with a light smile before turning to Naruto. See what I mean? Fucking creeper.

"And what about you Naruto? You know Deidara wants you to move in permanently with him."

Naruto scratches the back of his head sheepishly. "Actually, Gaara and I found an apartment, to get away from his family and stuff."

"I see." Sasori smiles, his eyes—always half-lidded—making him look especially tired, or like he's high or something. "He's very lucky to have a friend like you."

"Thanks." Naruto smiles up at him.

"Well, you two enjoy your drinks, and I will hopefully see you again soon." Sasori smiles again before heading into the back.

"I hate him." Naruto whispers once he's gone.

Huh? "Why?"

"He has a thing for Gaara, and Gaara doesn't need anything else wrong in his life." Naruto lets his head drop into his hands. "And what's worse is that Gaara's looking for someone."

"Well, he looks like someone who can defend himself." I say idly, hoping that we're both talking about the redhead and watching how his cute face lights up with hope.

"Yeah! Gaara's really strong, he wont let something like that happen to himself!"

I hear myself chuckle. Well, that was easy.

"YEAH GAARA!" Naruto suddenly bellows, shooting out of his seat and throwing his hands in the air. I turn around to see what the hell the commotion was about and I think my drink fell right out of my mouth. I think. I don't know, I'm having trouble thinking right now.

The entire bar goes silent as I try to register what I'm looking at. I sorry, but my mind is a little fried right now from what I think I'm seeing.

Breathe and blink. Ok, **blink again**. Nope, I'm not seeing things.

Neji kissed Gaara.

Over on the dance floor, right in the middle of everyone in the entire bar.

My straight cousin, who has a girlfriend, has kissed a boy.

…Like hell I'm paying him for this, this is just extra voluntary work.

But he looks… happy.

And if that wasn't shocking enough along with Naruto's crazy-ass outburst, the entire staff starts to cheer.

************(Gaara's POV)************

He kissed me.

My first kiss.

He bent down, put his finger under my chin, and kissed me.

He kissed me.

He's **still** kissing me!

Give me a moment……………………………………………………

THE **HELL**?

Don't get me wrong, he's freaking cute and all, and the whole scar thing is pretty cool, but really? We've known each other's names for all of **23 minutes**!

I know I'm not blushing, I've never been able to in my entire life, but my body temperature is about as hot as I feel right now.

Give me a break! Nothing like this has ever happened before! People don't hit on freaks! Well, Sasori (my boss, which is kind of fucked up) has made a pass at me a few times, but I turned him down because he scares me more than Naruto's cousin does, and that's **hard** to do. I don't get scared easily—

"YEAH GAARA!"

I know that voice, and the person who is yelling is **dead**. He will not live past this night, or even until midnight if anything else pushes me anymore—

"Yay Gaara! Woo!"

"Alright! You go!"

"Get a room Sabaku!"

Dead. They are all **dead**. And thanks to my so-called friend with the French fries for hair! Added to my list of reasons why I hate this place, everyone working here feels the need to **cheer** for me when I get kissed. It's not like it's never happened to any of them before!

Well… to them, yes, as for me, this is my very first kiss, and… wow… I think I like it.

Naruto comes flying out of nowhere and slings his arm around my neck, effectively taking my feet out from under my and sending me sprawling right into Neji's chest. Feels nice—stop it! Shut up! I did not just think that! I **hate** being hugged! But his arms are really muscular—SHUT UP! STOP THINKING!

I don't even know what's going on anymore. The music started again, and the bar has come out of its time freeze—thank the lord people are no longer staring—but I haven't moved. And I probably should. I'm **leaning** on him for Christ's sake!

I look up (finally) and he's staring at me. Well who wouldn't be? I have gone beyond freak. I have—

"You ok?" he asks slowly.

I think I nodded, I'm not really sure though. He lets go of me and I stand up to the best of my ability with my legs acting like they're jello, or cotton or something. Useless.

He scratches the back of his head and blushes. Well at least one of us can blush.

"Sorry, I just… I don't really…"

"It's alright." I say slowly.

Wow. He kissed me. And if I'm right about the eyes, then he's a Hyuuga. Holy shit.

I don't even want to look away from him, partly because he's hot, and also because I don't want to see if Sasori's pulling a gun out of his jacket. I can't deal with that right now.

"I'm going to go get something else." He says suddenly, heading for the bar.

"I'll join you." I say quickly, making him stare at me. If I were him, I'd be staring too. I kind of get why I said it, but I still can't believe that I did. He kissed me, and I basically just asked to get a drink with him.

I glance at the clock again, and if I wasn't a freak, my jaw would've hit the floor, but since I am a freak, I just continue walking. It's two already, which means I'm off duty… when did it get to be **two**? It was **ten** three minutes ago!

I sit down with him and order something strong. I'm going to need it.

…He kissed me.

I'm trying desperately not to smile right now.

************(Sasuke's POV)************

I can't believe Neji kissed him. And here I am calling myself a genius. I might have noticed that he and Tenten weren't as close as other normal couples our age—they practically never touch on Neji's account—but in my defense I'll say I was busy avoiding my family and trying to live a normal-ish life. Not the easiest thing to do.

Naruto comes bounding back after hugging Gaara and then throwing him into Neji's arms—and no, I didn't miss Neji's blush and tiny smile—and hops happily on top of the table, sitting on it like a seat.

I think I'm a little too close to his open legs, I try to rotate my body away from him, but my legs wont listen to me, so I stand there pivoting on the spot like a broken sprinkler for a minute. Well, who said I **wanted** to move from between his legs anyway?

Naruto glances up at the clock and hops down off the table, landing about a half an inch away from me. My body temperature just jumped another thousand degrees. I no longer think love at first sight is just a fluke of happening to meet eyes at the right time. Nope, because he yelled at me the first time we met eyes.

"It's two already, I guess I'm off." Naruto says, a little sadly if I'm listening correctly.

"Want me to give you a ride?"

He looks over at me, finally noticing just how **close** we really are, before smiling. "Thanks! I'll just go get my coat." Jesus Christ he's cute when he smiles. I think I smiled there too.

I look over at Neji as Naruto disappear behind the door to the kitchen and wait until he notices I'm staring at him. It's this weird thing the Hyuuga family can do, they just **know** when someone's trying to catch their attention, like they all have eyes in the back of their head or something.

He turns to me finally, and I nod my head toward the door to tell him I'm leaving. He casts a quick glance to Gaara and then shakes his head. Well, I guess he'll be taking the bus when he leaves.

"I'm leaving, Gaara." Naruto says as he passes them, heading for me… wearing a coat as orange as the freaking sun. Holy hell. And if that wasn't weird enough, his scarf is bright blue. Well, whatever, at least he's not holding clay or a bomb or a freaky puppet in his hand.

I put on my normal black jacket and lead him to the door, jumping slightly as he takes my hand.

Is it weird for me to say something like this feels like love this soon? Because that's what it really feels like. We're nothing alike, but opposites attract, Itachi and Deidara are living proof, and now Neji and Gaara. Well, Neji and Gaara aren't that different on some things—*cough* their scars *cough*—but some things still look like total opposites.

Naruto leaps over to the passenger side of my car and plunks down—I could barely hit the unlock button on my keys fast enough for him—sitting and looking at me with this huge smile on his face. Is he always this energetic?

I get in the car and just barely pull out onto the street before Naruto suddenly makes this sound like he's imitating a buffalo and smacks his hand over his eyes.

"What?"

"I'm with Deidara tonight!" he whines. "Damn! And my night was good until now!"

Oh yeah, he said he lives on and off with his guardian and Deidara, and it sounds like both of them really get on his tail. Instantly my genius brain has a brilliant idea, and my perverted, horny teenage body takes that idea and runs with it—straight down south to my groin.

You remember how I said Itachi wanted me to move in with him? And that I refused? Well, the **great** Itachi Uchiha (that's sarcasm, you idiots) rarely doesn't get what he wants and is very… **insistent** for what he does want.

Here's what happened: he took my key ring and welded the key to his penthouse to it. I'm not kidding, he took a blowtorch and now the key is permanently stuck to my car key. But I guess sometimes this can have its pluses, because my parents will be home now, and I don't really want to turn Naruto over to his warden. I know, I'm being selfish, but like I said, Uchihas rarely don't get what they want, and are very insistent in getting what they do want.

I make an illegal U turn and head back into town. Itachi is most likely now with Deidara at Deidara's house, so if I'm right…

I pull into the parking lot of Itachi's building and thank the gods I'm the only car there. Naruto's looking at me like I have four and a half heads, but when I get out and motion for him to follow me he does, so he can't be too freaked out. Either that or he's an idiot for following basically a stranger.

I walk up to the door and look in through the small glass window. There's an attendant sitting at the desk, like always, waiting to greet all of the tenants in the building because most of them are multimillionaires and get really pissy if they aren't greeted properly.

"Sasuke?" Naruto whispers, walking up behind me and practically spooning me. Relax, breathe, don't freak out here, and **don't** jump him here.

I put my finger to my lips and he shuts up. I slide my key (the one Itachi welded to my car key) into the door and wait. Right on time, the phone rings, and she turns around to answer it. I'm moving like lightning now, or like my ass is on fire, either way I yank the door open silently and shield Naruto with my body before he makes a break for the elevator. Did he have to wear bright orange? Doesn't matter, he's at the elevator now, and the woman didn't see him.

I step up to the desk and wait quietly. She, like the guy at the bar taking admission, freaks out when she sees me and splutters to her friend on the phone that she'll call him back.

"Are you Mr. Uchiha's brother?" she asks sweetly. "He told us to expect you."

I'm going to hurl. Do we really look **that much **alike? But I nod anyway; Naruto's waiting and who knows who might come and see him there, so we have to hurry.

"Yes sir, I'll bring the elevator down for you." She presses the little button behind the desk. This is a very high and mighty place, where people are so worried about burglars that the attendant has to buzz the elevator that waits at the top floor so no robbers or assassins can go up. They don't even have stairs in this place, and in case of a fire, they fly in a fleet of helicopters to carry everyone to safety like our feet should never touch the ground or something.

I nod to her again, ignoring her, "Have a nice night," as I head to the elevator where Naruto is waiting. Lucky enough for us the building is shaped so the person at the desk can't see who's standing in front of the elevator, something about privacy.

The elevator beeps before the door slides open and I shove Naruto inside so the person who just walked in the door doesn't see him, hitting the 'door close' and 'level 31' buttons as fast as I can, taking a deep breath when it closes before he notices it was there. I don't think I've done so much sneaking around in my entire life, but a glance around tells me that Naruto is very experienced at it.

…Where the hell **is** he? This is an elevator, it's a box with a row of buttons near the front, where is there to hide?

Of course. I look up and grab the handle of the emergency escape, heaving it open. Naruto's sitting up there, crunched between the gears and the levers, smiling at me.

"Why do it get the feeling this is a regular thing for you?" I ask, pushing the door all the way open and pulling myself up.

"Kyuubi taught me. He was a thousand times better at it." Naruto says, wedging himself out from between the things. Somehow, he manages to trip himself on something nonexistent and falls into me, and of course we go sprawling back down into the elevator because I was only halfway up and didn't exactly have anything to catch myself on.

"I have no doubt that he was better than you." I grunt as he pushes himself off my chest and pulls me up.

"My bad." He grins sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

I sigh, going tense when the elevator beeps again and we slide to a stop, the doors opening on floor 31, the top floor, Itachi's penthouse.

I look around slowly before leading Naruto into the hallway and sliding the key into the keyhole. If I'm right then Itachi is with Deidara, but if not… I will **never** live this down.

I push the door open. The lights are off, that's a good sign, but it doesn't guarantee anything. I step silently into the penthouse, waving for Naruto not to take off his shoes and lead him up the stairs. Yeah, I did say stairs.

Itachi's crazy-ass company has him making millions, and so he has a two-floor penthouse, with one wall downstairs made completely of bulletproof glass, three bedrooms upstairs (one that he has made very clear is for me) one huge spa, and a designer kitchen with a double oven, fridge with a glass front, and living room decked out like he's expecting the queen of England every day for tea. The floor is magnetic, as well as all of the furniture, so the table, chairs, liquor cabinet and 130 inch TV all float. Even the TV is made specially so the magnets don't mess it up. I wasn't joking when I said my brother made millions by the day.

He said my room was the first one, so I push the door open and kick my shoes off inside, pulling Naruto in and closing the door behind me.

"…Wow." Naruto finally says. "**Big**."

I hang my jacket in the closet and flick on the light, taking a look around the room. I designed my room in my parents' house, and apparently Itachi took note of that, because this one is an exact replica of it. **Exact**, right down to the placement of the lamp on the desk.

Naruto places his shoes beside mine and sits in the leather loveseat by the window, testing it experimentally.

…**Loveseat**? I take it back, I did **not** have a loveseat in my parents' house. And another thing, the bed isn't exactly the same. My bed has an antique wooden headboard, this one… doesn't. It had no headboard. I immediately flush the colors of the rainbow again.

Fuck. Itachi. And. His. Perverted. Mind.

"So…" Naruto shifts nervously, damn he's cute, "what am I doing here?"

"You said you didn't want to go home, right?"

"…Sasuke?" he says after a second. Wow, I kind of like it when he says my name.

"Yeah?"

"D-Do you believe in love at first sight?"

Did he just ask me that, or am I hearing things? No really, I mean it.

"I think it depends on the person." I say after a moment.

"O-Oh."

I smirk to myself, glad that I'm facing the opposite direction so that he can't see me. Maybe I can play with this for a little bit. "Why?" I ask innocently.

"OH! Well, uh, it was no real reason, I mean, you know, stupid things just pop into your head every once and a while and you go and say them without even thinking… or something?" he points at his temples, smiling at me. He's hoping that's I'll drop it.

"Are you sure that was it?" I ask, my hands in my pockets as I walk slowly over to the loveseat. He's sitting down, so I'm hovering above him, and his nervous expression is damn cute!

"O-Of course Teme! What else would it be?" he crosses his arms childishly. I don't think I realized just how small this loveseat is, but it makes my fun that much easier.

"Well why else would you bring it up?" I place my hands on both of the armrests, so I'm leaning in very close to his nose. He's getting redder by the second, and it just encourages me more. "Maybe something was on your mind?" I tease, leaning in further so he's pinned back into the couch.

"N-No! I was just saying!" he's still protesting, and he's still getting cuter in my opinion.

"Well you didn't get my answer."

"…Answer?" he asks slowly, leaning back further into the couch as I lean in.

"About us." I whisper huskily.

"I didn't ask about us!"

"You implied." I counter easily, moving back to stare him in the eye.

"Well?" he barks. He's so nervous now, I'm about to jump him he's so damn cute.

"Well what?"

"Your answer?"

"What answer?" I chuckle, leaning in again so my lips ghost over his neck.

"About us!"

"What about us?"

"You said that I'd never heard your answer!"

"To what? Whether or not love at first sight exists? I said it depends on the people." I was going to make him beg in a figurative sense. This was going to be fun.

"To the other question!"

"Other question?" I flick my tongue out, just barely touching his skin as he tries to get his words straight. I'm not helping him get control of his speech, but I'm having fun. His taste is mild, and overpowering at the same time. Overwhelming is the word I think I want, but in a completely good way.

He doesn't say anything. Stubborn. "Ask me Naruto, I want to answer." I say as roughly as I can.

"…Do you think there's love at first sight? With us?" he grinds out the last part literally through his teeth.

"…I didn't at first, the way we yelled at each other, but when I got home that night," I taste the skin on his tender neck again, my eyes rolling back into my head at the taste, "all I could think about was the color of your hair, and how blue your eyes were."

"That's not a real answer." He points out. Dobe.

"Then," taste, "I," my lips brush over his collarbone, "do," lick, "think," brush, "it," kiss, "exists."

Naruto groans slightly and rolls his hips. I want him. I don't know what happened to make me snap, but all of a sudden, I did. And I didn't care who the hell in my family was against it. I would take them all on, after I was done fucking Naruto's brains out.

Everything starts moving at light speed. I yank him up into a kiss, our lips meeting for the first time, but we don't savor it like I thought I would my first kiss. We're biting each other's lips and nipping at our tongues, licking and battling like we've been doing this our entire lives. And then his shirt it gone, and I can't get enough of the sweet taste of his skin, and he stands up and pushes me over to the bed, straddling my hips and grinding against my cock so hard I can't see straight. I manage to flip us and tear the rest of out clothes off, diving into another kiss as he grips the back of my neck like I'm anchoring him to the goddamn world.

I don't care, and I'm saying for him to hold me tighter as I'm practically eating him alive, and the tightness is making me dizzier than I've ever been.

************(3rd Person POV)************

Deidara switches places with Itachi to look in through the keyhole as Sasuke rips of Naruto's shirt quite forcefully and starts biting at Naruto's pert nipples, leaving bold red marks against the tanned skin.

He tip toes down the stairs and gives Itachi a thumbs up that they wont hear anything for the next half an hour, and Itachi picks up the phone for the second time that night.

"Hello, front desk? Yes, I'd like two bottles of champagne and four glasses sent up to the Uchiha penthouse, please."

"**Two** bottles, un?" Deidara asks suggestively, wrapping his arms around Itachi's waist.

"Yes sir, did your brother make it up to your room alright?" the woman at the desk asks.

"Yes, he did." Itachi smirks as a particularly loud yell followed by the groan of a different person echoes down the stairs. "Thank you again for agreeing to let his friend up."

"It was my pleasure, Mr. Uchiha. I'll have that champagne sent up right away."

"And make sure to stay quiet, I'd rather my brother didn't know we've been here yet."

"Yes sir, have a good night sir."

Itachi places the phone into the cradle before backing Deidara up against the wall. "Yes, two bottles. Somehow I don't think one will be enough for all four of us to have a civilized conversation together."

"Are you going to try your hand and blackmail again, un?" Deidara licks his lips innocently.

"I was thinking that he might agree to move in with me if I agree never to tell father what happened here tonight." Itachi looks to the stairs as another groan echoes down them.

"Un, that was a good idea, the bed without the headboard."

"I had a hunch." Itachi smirks, looking back over to the door as someone knocks quietly from outside. "And blackmail is always served best over chilled champagne. Maybe Sasuke will even agree to move into the penthouse with Naruto if you blackmail Naruto on telling his guardian… what was his name… Iruka that Naruto smokes."

Deidara shakes his head slowly, taking the champagne from the steward with a quiet thanks before shutting the door. "Sasuke hates the smell, un, correct? And Gaara is already forcing him to quit, un, but somehow I doubt he'll object to moving in with Sasuke, un." Deidara smirked vampirishly at another yell and a loud thump from upstairs. "But it could just be a hunch." He winks at Itachi, joining him on the couch in the living room and pouring the champagne. "Do you think we'll be waiting until morning, un?"

Itachi shakes his head, picking up his glass and sipping it. "Sasuke will be too worried about me seeing Naruto here, he'll want to get Naruto out before five. All we have to do is wait."

They both look up to the floor above them at an out of breath yell of Sasuke's name, and smile at each other, touching their wine glasses together with a clink. "Wait until they're done, at least." Itachi smirks.


End file.
